If humanity is to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, it is essential that we decarbonize our economies. This will depend upon the widespread rollout of technologies which are enormously metal- and mineral-intensive. But mining is not without its social and environmental impacts, nor is it free of responsibility for the climate emergency.
When anti-government protests erupted in Colombia in April, the neighbourhood of Siloé in Cali quickly became an epicentre of resistance. Our guest writer, Jahfrann, was there with the medical mission "ESCONDIDA". He describes a nightmarish scene in which the instinct to preserve life is driven underground by state repression.
This is the first issue of Voz, LAB’s new series of guest-written quarterly dispatches, available exclusively to patrons (paid subscribers). Natalia addresses poverty and inequality under Pinochet’s lasting neoliberal economic model, the student uprisings that led to the estallido social, her traumatic eye injury and her political beginnings.